Area racing round-u

By Ken Johnson, For 21st Century Media

Sunday, September 29, 2013

GRANDVIEW RACERS DO WELL IN NASCAR NATIONAL STANDINGS FOR 2013

Seven time Grandview Speedway NASCAR Whelen All- American Series 358 Modified champion Craig VonDohren has finished fifth in the National standings and for the first time in his career the 50-year-old racer is the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Pennsylvania champion. The Oley professional racer was able to win six feature races plus rack up consistent finishes to claim the track title. He is the all time leader in regular Saturday night feature wins with 87.

VonDohren was the highest ranked driver in the National points who competed at just a single NASCAR track during the season. VonDohren drove his self-owned Pioneer Pole Buildings/VP Racing Fuels No. 1c in gaining the impressive statistics. Finishing sixth in the standings was Duane Howard (Oley) who won an amazing nine feature races during the 2013 NASCAR 358 Modified season but still fell short in his quest to win a sixth track title.

Jared Umbenhauer (Richland), winner of the NASCAR Sportsman title for the second year in a row, has earned the top spot in the national rankings for the NASCAR Finalist Division III Dirt standings. Umbenhauer drove the Eastern Rigging No. 5 Sportsman stock car.

Sean Merkel (Boyertown), who competes in the Late Model division, finished second in the national NASCAR Finalist Division II Dirt points. Merkel was at the wheel of the Kochel Eqpt./Merkel Rebar No. 118 Late Model.

Sinking Springs Don Kreitz Jr. prepped for next week’s Williams Grove Speedway National Open by taking a convincing win in Friday’s National Open Tune Up race for 410 sprints at the oval. Kreitz had to battle his teammate Ryan Smith, Kunkeltown, and Brian Montieth, Phonixville, to pick up his second oval win of the season, worth $4,000. Ryan Smith and Brian Montieth kept trading the spot back and forth until finally with two laps to go Smith took the spot for the last time.

It was the first time that the Kreitz team cars finished one/two in a feature event at Williams Grove. Montieth ended the race third followed by Greg Hodnett and Alan Krimes. With Fred Rahmer’s misfortune (dropped out on lap 15) and Hodnett’s finish, Hodnett unofficially took over the season-long point lead by 35 markers over Rahmer.

Sixth through 10th in the main went to Pat Cannon, Lance Dewease, Steve Buckwalter, Brent Marks and Paul McMahan.

BEDFORD SPEEDWAY – Hamburg’s Andy Haus 4th

The track was fast and DJ Troutman was the fastest at Bedford Friday night. DJ Troutman scored a drama filled last lap Late Model victory in the Fallfest action at the track. It was Troutman’s first 2013 win at the track and came in the last Late Model event of the seasonMike Altobelli, Dylan Yoder and Andy Haus, of Hamburg, trailed.

Jeff Rine came from deep in the field to take fifth, ahead of Wayne Johnson, Matt Sponaugle, Dan Cornman, Jim Yoder and Derek Byler. Former multi time track champion Scott Haus made a rare 2013 appearance at the track and had a huge lead before his car began smoking and he retired from heat 2.

SELINSGROVE - TJ Stutts Pockets $8,000.00

TJ Stutts of Liverpool scored a convincing flag-to-flag victory in Saturday night’s 13th Annual Mach 1 Chassis National Open for 358-360 sprint cars at Selinsgrove Speedway. The win marked the third time Stutts won the prestigious race, having also won the Open in 2001 and 2003.

The $8,000 victory in the 35-lap event was the 17th of Stutts’ career at thetrack and his second this season driving the Mountain View Travel No. 23M.

Mach 1 Chassis drivers Stutts, Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove, and Brock Zearfoss of Jonestown finished in the top three positions. Stutts’ margin of victory was 2.9 seconds over Pat Cannon, whose car was five pounds light during the post-race inspection and disqualified. Heimbach was credited with finishing second, followed by Zearfoss, seventh-place starter Aaron Ott, and 18th-place starter Mark Smith.